This is the last gift sponsored by Sandisk slotRadio, so I thought we might actually talk about music. Since John Hughes passed, I’ve been thinking about how much more I enjoy movies when a director is passionate about the soundtrack.
My favorite Hughes scenes are about the music that’s playing in his characters’ lives. Remember Duckie lip-syncing to “Try a little Tenderness?”
Or Ferris Bueller’s “Danke Schoen” cum “Twist and Shout” on the parade float:
And of course, The Breakfast Club dance scene:
Then there are the Hughes songs that knock you flat and replay footage of your bedroom ceiling, circa 1985.
“Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds
“If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins
“If You Leave” by OMD
So this present celebrates the music Mr. Hughes brought into our lives. If you win, I’ll send you everything you need for a nostalgic movie night.
The Ringwald holy trinity:
An absurdly large box of Watermelon Flavored Pop Rocks, (Purchased after I ate the packages I bought for you at the corner store. Taste the Explosion!):
And, of course, a Sandisk slotRadio:
It comes with a bunch of songs already, but also gives you the option of picking your own music. Before you load your workout mix, I’d like you to check into these:
The Ultimate John Hughes Playlist
John Hughes Movie Soundtrack Hits
Leave a comment below, bonus points if you tell me about your favorite music-related movie scene. Be sure to include your email address in the field provided (so I can reach you if you win) by August 14 at 5 p.m. PST. Just one comment, please — I have to delete duplicates for fairness. Random.org will decide who wins. I’ll contact the lucky via email, and I’ll also tell you who won here.
Danke schoen to Sandisk for making this gift project a go. It’s been fun.
Mighty Girl 
I must admit that I loved the Chaos Theory movie soundtrack, which introduced me to The Damnwells. The final wedding scene with the music overlay is absolutely perfect. Good and sappy, but not overly saccharine.
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I would have to agree with Andrea (12). As cheesy as it may be, I just loved the boombox scene in Say Anything.
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Oh John Hughes. Sigh. Weep. My favorite movie song scene may be the Reservoir Dog walk of drama. Or really any John Hughes movie scene. Sigh. Weep.
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I actually really flippin’ love the movie Rock Star. Mark Wahlberg could totally make it in the rock business! Here’s a good scene where he’s auditioning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GSryDV7b24&feature=related It’s all inspirational because he kind of chokes at first and then suddenly he’s ROCKING IT!
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The montage scene from Dirty Dancing where Eric Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes” plays while Baby is learning to dance is the montage all other montages wish they could be.
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I would have to say “Amelie” is my favorite movie for music – I never get tired of being transported to Paris with that soundtrack!
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One of my favorite movies is Next Stop Wonderland, and the soundtrack for the entire movie is gorgeous, but I especially love the subway scenes with Claudio Ragazzi’s “Crossed Paths” playing in the background. And the fish heist at the New England Aquarium with the sneaky-sounding “Os Grilos” by Marcos Valle.
And for a John Cusack tribute, I also like the line “I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band” in “High Fidelity.”
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oh, any scene at all in “Singles”, which I love, love, love! It always makes me ache for that time, that place, that exact moment in life. Especially good is the scene with Waiting for Somebody by Paul Westerberg.
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I almost can’t listen to the OMD or Simple Minds songs they’re so powerfully connected to my early teen angst. These days, one of my favorite movie music moments comes from a little obscure Australian romantic comedy called “Hotel de Love.” Near the end, the protagonists finally kiss, to the beat of the old Tim Finn song “In Love with it All.” So sweet!
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Pretty much all of Moulin Rouge, but especially the love song montage. I am a big movie soundtrack fan and I firmly believe that Baz Luhrman, Quentin Tarantino, and Zach Braff are movie soundtrack gods.
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There are just too many great movie scenes with great music to list. I loved reading through the list of comments and remembering the scenes/music the others listed. Not a fan of the movie, but the version of “Roxanne” from Moulin Rouge has stayed with me, which then makes me think of Eddie Murphy singing it in 48 Hours…
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The Wedding Singer’s: I Want to Grow Old with You. It captures everything about my husband just right. That was our first song at our wedding. 🙂
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Soundtracks are my absolute favorite kind of music to purchase. When I find a song I love, I often try to figure out where I would put it in the soundtrack of my life. You know, when they make my movie.
It’s hard to pick a favorite since there’s so many. So I will instead embarrass myself and admit that I would rewind Sister Act on VHS and sing the part where they finally show the neighborhood what’s up with their choir.
Nuns are great. Nuns who sing and dance are awesome.
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pick me! pick me!
sixteen candles is one of my all time favorite movies, and the background music that was used for that movie was brilliant, as it is with most john hughes movies.
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While Duckie is and will always be one of my favorite movie characters of all time, I have to say that a recent movie has created a scene that tops my love for “Try a Little Tenderness”.
That movie is (500) Days of Summer, when Joseph Gordon-Leavitt dances to Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams”.
I wish that spontaneous dance scenes with strangers were a regular part of human life.
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The movie Garden State has one of the best soundtracks ever. I also have a special place in my heart for the last scene in 16 candles.
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I would write a witty comment, but, seriously, it would just be cool to win. 🙂
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The Ferris Bueller ‘Twist & Shout’ has always been a guilty pleasure. It’s not ever close to his voice, but you want to believe it’s him anyway. 😉
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It’d be so great to win this! I could list so many favorite movie soundtracks, but I have always loved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and all that great music!
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You Can’t Always Get What You Want from the soundtrack of The Big Chill really hit me for some reason. I went out and bought the soundtrack immediately…that song wasn’t on there. It’s a great one still though.
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My favorite song related movie scene is in GoodFellas when DeNiro is at the bar thinking and they play the beginning of Cream, Sunshine of Your Love. amazing scene
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“Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once”. Great movie — great song!
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Awesome prizes! John Hughes gave us so much great music and so many great quotes. A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m gonna get busted, it is *not* gonna be by a guy like *that*.
Thanks Maggie!
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I always wondered why “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” never had a soundtrack release. The music so totally completes this movie. Fave music scene is “Twist and Shout” from “Ferris Bueller”
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All time favorite song from the past that changed me forever…
Grease – ‘Summer Nights’
Summer lovin’ had me a blast
Summer lovin’ happened so fast
Met a girl, crazy for me
Met a boy, cute as can be
Ahhhh, sweet memories. Little known fact – Marie Osmond was first offered the role of Sandy and thank goodness she turned it down.
Pick me! Pick me!
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All time favorite – the scene in Sixteen Candles when Anthony Michael Hall is trying to dance with Molly Ringwald and drops down to a split. Hilarious! A close runner-up is the “driving to Chicago in the Ferrari” scene in Ferris Bueller. No clue what the song is, but it’s something about a Big City.
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It’s not quite a music-centered scene, but I can’t help but laugh at the wedding band in Old School dropping f-bombs all through Total Eclipse of the Heart. Cracks me up everytime.
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Cool contest, and great ’80s video memories in your post! Other than the Hughes favorites, my favorite movie/music moment has to be the wedding scene at the beginning of Love Actually, when the best man surprises the couple with musicians scattered throughout audience playing “All You Need Is Love.” So sweet.
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My favorite movie/music scene is from the great, but often overlooked, John Hughes film, “She’s Having A Baby” starring Kevin Bacon. Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” is playing over a montage scene of memories Kevin Bacon’s character is thinking about while is wife is in surgery attempting to give birth to their child. The baby is breached. He’s holding her wedding band in the waiting room. You see a tear roll down his face, then you see a drop of blood hit the floor in the ER room. It’s totally gut-wrenching, but amazing…and that song is the perfect touch to a very touching scene. Made me fall in love with Kate Bush’s voice/music!
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I can’t hear Rockin Around the Christmas Tree without thinking of Home Alone. As a kid that movie was priceless.
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How can you not love the scene in Say Anything where adorable John Cusak stands with the boombox and plays “Your Eyes”. That scene has set many men up for failure – it set the bar 🙂
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I love the scene from the Royal Tenenbaums where Gwyneth Paltrow walks in slo-mo to a Nico song, These Days.
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Oh so many!! The Eighties were ripe with great music in movies! I was so lucky to be a teen in the eighties! Grease, Dirty Dancing, all the John Hughes movies, Say Anything John Cusak (yummy!), Footloose, was St. Elmo’s Fire a Hughes?, Less than Zero made me not want to ever try coke and I never did, I could go on and on.
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it’s not a john hughes movie, but i love the opening scene to adventures in babysitting where elisabeth shue is dancing in her room. my favorite john hughes scene is the final kissing scene in the parking lot in pretty in pink. andrew mccarthy was so yummy! i saw him in a lifetime movie recently and he’s still pretty hot :>
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Oh, movie music! *swoon* My favorite music scene from a movie is definitely when Diva Plavalaguna sings in The Fifth Element. Sometimes I just watch that scene because it is so amazing!
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I love the music from Girls Just Want to Have Fun. So many great 80’s movies!
Thanks!
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I’m still a sucker for Dirty Dancing. I’ll watch it every time it comes on television despite my husband’s pleas.
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Okay, I love and was raised on John Hughes, but my favorite movie-music connection is not Shermer, Illinois-related.
It is that Otis Redding’s “These Arms of Mine” is a musical indicator in at least two movies that Patrick Swayze is about to get it on with a young woman whose affections may cost him his job and/or his life: Dirty Dancing AND Roadhouse.
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Empire Records…I can’t pick just one scene, I love it all
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About Last Night with Rob Lowe and Demi Moore – Living Inside My Heart – Bob Seger. I wanted to be Demi Moore in that movie
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How weird is it that I love “If I Only Had A Brain” from The Wizard of Oz? The Cowardly Lion rocked it.
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Breakfast Club rules them all. A close second is High Fidelity, although not a John Hughes film.
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I have to ask, have you seen Some Kind of Wonderful? That movie had FABULOUS music. Also John Hughes-related. I thought this movie had the most “teeth” of any of them. The music in the Firefly series always gets me, too.
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I like Wes Anderson’s use of music in movies. Especially Life Aquatic’s David Bowie numbers. Spike Jonze flicks too. Loving the preview for Where the Wild Things Are.
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My favorite music related scene in a movie…I am not sure but the one that popped into my head first was Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing …The song was Love is Strange by Mickey and Sylvia and he is teaching her how to dance and they are singing to each other and crawling across the floor…the soundtrack really made that movie.
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Great songs! You know, I think one of my favorite movie music moments is when Jack Black sings “Let’s Get it On” at the end of High Fidelity.
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Oh man, I love those movies.
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I still get worked up when I see the William McNamara/Jodie Foster (as Billy Wyatt/Katie Chandler) montage set to And When She Danced in Stealing Home:
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John Hughes movies made me want to be a teenager in the 80’s. I, however was a teenager in the 90’s…I agree with what others have said above in regard to Wes Anderson.
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Ahh, Pretty in Pink. I had the haircut and everyone told me I looked like her. (I do not, nor did I ever, resemble Molly Ringwald.) Any time I hear “If You Leave” I’m instantly 16 again, watching that movie over and over at my friend Sandy’s house.
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